1. What is your book ‘I Know Who You Are!’ about?

Mariam: ‘I Know Who You Are!’ is a book about people and life. It presents the concept of Character Skins which will, in general, help people understand their family members, friends, colleagues and strangers in a better way.

Fatima: The book progresses on two fronts, the first being the story of Sultan and how he, along with his family, moves into their new house during the summer holidays. During this process he finds a treasure and comes into contact with his long lost friend, his grandfather.

The other front is the establishment of the concept that people have different Character Skins which are responsible for their behaviour and actions. This concept is woven beautifully into the life of Sultan.

2. What inspired you to write this book?

Mariam: Our inspiration came from our sensitivity and observation of the happenings around us – people, relationships and their interactions. Our analysis and discussions about people’s thoughts, beliefs and ideologies motivated us to share our philosophy of life through our book.

Fatima: Being humans we have problems with humans; actually, it should be the contrary. I think this fact lead us to create the Character Skins and to write this book.

3. Could you elaborate the concept of the Character Skins that you have presented in the book?

Fatima: Every person has a Character Skin, which affects the type of interaction and relationship he has with others. In the book we present five Character Skins which are all unique in appearance, insight and behaviour. If you are able to understand the Character Skins, you will be able to understand the insight of many people around you.

Mariam: The concept of Character Skins can be summarized in these words:

What the Soul is to the Body – A Character Skin is to the Personality

As the Body wears a Soul the Personality wears a Character Skin

4. How long did it take you to write the book?

Fatima: It almost took us one year.

Mariam: The concept was visualised in the last days of January 2007, however the first document on our record was made on 2nd February 2007. It was a brief outline about all the Character Skins. We finished the manuscript on 21st January 2008.

5. How was the experience of getting your work published?

Fatima: There were times when we used to feel stressed and disappointed, waiting for publishers and literary agents to respond. As they are really busy, the entire process takes a lot of time. However, Alhamdulilah, for us it wasn’t a long wait. From the time of sending the queries to signing the publishing contract, it only took us three months.

6. Did you approach UAE based publishers?

Fatima: We did approach them, some had busy schedules and for some the book did not meet their publication genre.

7. When you reflect back, do you come across any difficulties that you had anticipated would come your way?

Mariam: We always knew getting the book published would be a real challenge. We had identified the possible difficulties in advance, so we did some online research. It helped us greatly.

8. Was there any point of time when you doubted the concept of the book?

Mariam: No.

Fatima: Not at all. We had complete belief in the book because we always found more than one reason that contributed to its appeal. Actually, when we were waiting for a response from the literary agents and publishers, we used to, quite often, read from the book. This assured us of our hard work, dedication and assured us that the book was commercially viable.

9. What were the challenges involved in writing your book?

Fatima: The biggest challenge was to complete the book as soon as possible. As we progressed in our writings the challenges changed… it was crucial to reveal the Character Skins the best possible way in Sultan’s story, the placement and the length of each inset mattered a lot. Another concern was to create incidents and conversations where the traits of the Character Skins would get exposure, their behaviour needed great focus.

Mariam: Ensuring that all the aspects of the story were connected, was vital. This required reviewing and analysing the plot of the story a number of times. We used in-depth analysis and discussion as a tool to achieve this.

10. Which Character Skin was the most challenging to design and develop?

Fatima: Developing an insight for Flipside and Scuff was a time swallowing task. It took us quiet some time to find justifications these Character Skins would put forward to support their words and actions.

Mariam: While writing the Character Skins, it was very clear in our minds that we did not want to show any particular character with grey shades. Our aim was to make people aware that everyone has a good reason, good in the true sense, for doing what they do. Even if an act looks unacceptable, it is done with a reasoning, which according to the person who does it, is positive. To create this good intention for all the Character Skins was difficult, also for Headspin.

11. What concept would you like to promote from your book?

Fatima: I like Hammerhead’s line, ‘Don’t leave life until life leaves you!’ It is really worthy of endorsement.

12. How was the entire experience of writing the book and then finally seeing it on the shelf?

Fatima: It was similar to the feeling a farmer would get after harvesting the crop, for which he had prepared the soil, planted, watered, nurtured, protected and prayed for day in day out. It is still sometimes unbelievable, a dream come true, pleasing and exciting. We are really thankful to Allah.

Mariam: Thinking of the time we started writing the book and today, it has been a rewarding experience. We feel like visiting bookstores just to see our book there.

13. How has the concept of Character Skins affected your lives?

Fatima: The concept of Character Skins has simplified our lives. We know people around us are different from each other and from us; so they need differentiated attention, dialogue, time and level of understanding. Once you are able to identify people as Hammerhead, Scuff, Flipside, Sticklip, Headspin or Polish, you can deal with them effectively.

Mariam: The good point about the book is that it not only helps you identify these Character Skins but also gives you their insight. It gives you answers to the questions, ‘Why did he do so?’ ‘What does he think about himself?’ ‘How could he…?’

You can learn the different thoughts that drive people’s actions and conversations.

14. Any scene from the book that you like in particular?

Mariam: The climax is the best part of the book; it has to be my favourite.

Fatima: I like the flashback in the book. It really satisfies my taste of reading.

15. Anything you might like to change in the book?

Fatima: I wouldn’t like to change anything. Adding more to it… I won’t mind that!

Mariam: No, nothing at all.